ESHOO WARNS: NO ROADMAP FOR TELECOM ACT UPDATE — The GOP-promised rewrite of the 1996 Telecom Act hangs over much of the Hill’s telecom work these days, but the Democrats’ top telecom lawmaker in the House seems skeptical that it’s coming anytime soon. “I always think that history is instructive. In this case, relative to a rewrite of the Telecom Act, it took at least a decade or more to do the ‘96 act. So I think it’s naive to anticipate that life is going to be tidy and put that up against history,” she told MT in an interview last week.

House telecom chairman Greg Walden has said the bigger issues in telecom policy, like retransmission consent reform, could be addressed in the coming update, which he expects to begin in earnest next year. But Eshoo said that so far, there’s no clear focus for what’s to come. “If you’re gonna go into it, you have to have some clear goals in mind and operating principles,” she said. “It’s undefined. It’s naive to think in my view that it is a simple undertaking, it is a multi, multi-year undertaking, and there isn’t any roadmap.”

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TECH FIRMS SEE DMCA STAKE IN ‘INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS’ YOUTUBE CASE — The usual suspects of Silicon Valley’s top echelon has signed onto an amicus brief filed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday opposing a previous ruling that the firms say is at odds with Congress’ intent in passing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In February, the court ruled that Google had to take down copies of the controversial “Innocence of Muslims” video — and further, it had to try to prevent new versions from being uploaded. But that goes against a traditional reading of the DMCA, according to the Monday brief filed by Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Adobe, and Pinterest, among others.

“The decision and order are at odds with long established copyright jurisprudence and Congressional policy that the obligation of identifying infringements belongs to copyright holders and that service providers do not have to monitor their services for all possible copyright infringements,” the firms write: http://bit.ly/Q8lYQP. The groups, in essence, are pushing back against the so-called take-down-means-stay-down DMCA approach that was debated on Capitol Hill in March and was backed by MPAA a few weeks ago.

BROADCASTERS LOOK FOR PLAN B IN AEREO CASE — The Wall Street Journal’s Amol Sharma and Brent Kendall: “The broadcasters say they are optimistic that they will prevail but are nevertheless taking steps to be ready for an adverse ruling. Plan B options under consideration range from lobbying Congress for a legislative solution to perhaps thwarting Aereo by shifting to cable transmission from broadcast. The most radical of the contingency plans is the recent suggestion from CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves that the company could offer its own Internet service if Aereo wins.”

“If Aereo wins, some broadcasters may press Congress to curb the video service, possibly by adding a provision in a satellite-TV bill that must be renewed before it expires at the end of the year. A legislative fix could be a long shot, some industry lobbyists say, given the many issues that are higher up the congressional agenda...Another contingency plan for broadcasters is to stop offering their content over the air and become cable networks. That could present thorny issues for the local "affiliate" stations that rely on broadcast network programming — like early morning news and prime-time shows — to attract viewers and fill out their schedules around local news and syndicated talk shows.” http://on.wsj.com/1m51QKj

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where word on the street is that we’re sinking back into Winter for a day or two. No matter, for your MT-er has Nats tickets at the end of the week and we’re sure that things will be jiffy by that time. In the interim, let us know what’s on your plate with a note to abyers@politico.com and @byersalex. And catch the rest of the team’s contact info after speed read.

WAPO ED BOARD BACKS COMCAST-TWC MERGER, WITH CONDITIONS — Writing in today’s paper: “[S]ome merger supporters overstate the extent of competition the cable industry faces...That is not grounds to take the severe step of blocking a proposed merger. But it is reason for federal regulators to keep a close eye on what cable companies, still huge players in how we communicate and consume culture, end up doing to competitors and upstarts — and to set clear conditions that allow a crackdown, if necessary.” http://wapo.st/Q8n3YZ

GOOGLE GETS IN THE DRONE GAME — Your MT-er and Jessica take a look: “The search giant announced Monday that it has purchased Titan Aerospace, a New Mexico company that makes high-altitude drones. Google didn’t say how much it paid for the firm, which Facebook considered buying earlier this year reportedly for $60 million. Instead, it paid $20 million last month for U.K-based aerospace company Ascenta. Google hopes the Titan purchase will bolster its efforts to connect developing countries, and offer new ways to collect images for Google Maps or its crisis-response arm.”

“This marks the latest instance of big Silicon Valley firms taking to the skies in search of new ways to grow business and improve global connectivity. Facebook wants to use drones to carry Internet to the developing world, and Amazon hopes to revolutionize its business by delivering packages via unmanned aircraft...Both [Facebook and Google] see drones as a vehicle to deliver Internet access to far stretches of the world.” http://politi.co/1m4yTOF

** A true competitor, SoftBank launched a successful price war against the two industry giants in Japan’s mobile wireless market. We believe Americans also deserve high-quality, low cost wireless access. With SoftBank, you should always expect the unexpected. Learn why at http://softbankusa.com/.

DEMS WRITE WHEELER ON INCENTIVE AUCTIONS — Several dozen House Democrats are pushing the FCC to maximize participation in the coming spectrum incentive auctions. Almost 80 lawmakers signed onto a letter sent to Chairman Tom Wheeler on Friday — though only 3 of the 11 Dems on the telecom subcommittee put their names down — directing regulators to do what they can to boost broadcaster participation and incentivize wireless industry bidding.

“In fact, inviting as many bidders as possible to compete in an open and fair auction on equal terms will allow for the full market price for spectrum to be realized and, in turn, lead to higher compensation to incent greater broadcaster participation resulting in more spectrum for the auction,” the letter reads: http://bit.ly/1jEyyBt. It’s worth nothing: The lawmakers do not specify how they’d like to see the agency maximize participation, which the wireless industry has continued to fiercely debate over the last years.

LET US KNOW if you decide to pony up the $1500 for Google Glass in Tuesday’s availability to the general public.

INTUIT, CCIA LINKED TO ‘GRASSROOTS’ LOBBYING AGAINST TAX CHANGE — ProPublica’s Liz Day looks at what seems to be a behind-the-scenes campaign to fight a proposal allowing taxpayers to use pre-filled tax returns, a suggestion that the Computer and Communications Industry Association and member Intuit have long opposed. A CCIA-hired firm, JCI Worldwide, confirmed to Day that it has “reached out to multiple groups and encouraged them to share information about the ‘flaws’ of return-free filing.” CCIA and Intuit declined to comment on letters and op-eds opposing the change, of which ProPublica found 8: http://bit.ly/1m4C498

GOOGLE SHARES MORE ON EMAIL SCANNING IN NEW TERMS OF SERVICE — Reuters’ Alexei Oreskovic: “Google Inc updated its terms of service on Monday, informing users that their incoming and outgoing emails are automatically analyzed by software to create targeted ads. The revisions more explicitly spell out the manner in which Google software scans users' emails, both when messages are stored on Google's servers and when they are in transit, a controversial practice that has been at the heart of litigation...Users of Google's Gmail email service have accused the company of violating federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws by scanning their messages so it could compile secret profiles and target advertising.” http://reut.rs/1m52dEI

SPEED READ

CHINESE HACKER MADE QUICK WORK OF HEARTBLEED: An attack sought exploit the bog on a University of Michigan computer a day after the vulnerability was revealed, Bloomberg reports: http://bloom.bg/Q8lM3V

** SoftBank takes pride in its role as a competitor. We launched a successful price war against the two industry giants in Japan’s mobile wireless market and were #1 in new mobile subscribers for the last six years in Japan. Following SoftBank’s more than $22 billion investment in Sprint, we are looking forward to bringing our competitive and innovative approach to the U.S. wireless market. Our goal is to connect Americans to the full promise of the mobile Internet and to improve people’s lives by bringing faster, more reliable wireless services to the U.S. in an age when access to high-speed mobile connectivity is critical. Those who know SoftBank know to expect the unexpected. Learn why at http://softbankusa.com/.

About The Author

Alex Byers is a technology reporter for POLITICO Pro. He was previously a senior Web producer at POLITICO, where he helped run POLITICO's Twitter and Facebook accounts. Before joining the Web team, he graduated from The George Washington University, where he served as the 2009-10 editor-in-chief of The GW Hatchet, the school's award-winning student newspaper.

Previously, he has interned at washingtonpost.com, Dateline NBC and General Mills Inc. He hails from Minneapolis and is an avid Twins fan, musician and golfer.